Thursday, July 21, 2016

Quick Hits

There are just too many topics to cover before we break for EAA Airventure, so let's just do a series of quick hits today:

Don't expect Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson to get Appleton Mayor Tim Hanna's endorsement in his race for Congress this fall. Hanna didn't call out Nelson by name yesterday in voicing his frustration with the County's use of eminent domain to take property away from a potential private developer and use it instead for a Sheriff's Department patrol office. Although it was nice to see a proponent of more Big Government control and restrictions "victimized" by a believer in even Bigger Government wielding what he believes to be his powers.

It used to be that if you called police and claimed crimes were happening that didn't--you would get arrested. Now thanks to social media, law enforcement is forced to go on wild goose chases because something goes viral on the internet. The latest is the "Found Ring/Attempted Abduction/Sex Trafficking Threat" that circulated in the Fox Valley this week. The post claimed a woman found a ring on her windshield and that while trying to figure out what was going on, a mysterious SUV pulled up and people tried to kidnap her. The more the post was shared, the "more concerned" residents became--and they wanted the Police to investigate. Here's something to keep in mind when you read those posts: An incident like that would show up on a police report and in the local media. If we didn't say it happened, it likely didn't happen.

What is it about the phrase "vote your conscience" that gets Donald Trump supporters so riled up? Ted Cruz used the phrase in his speech last night and was booed off the stage by the "Make America Great Again" sign wavers at the Republican National Convention. Speaker Paul Ryan was criticized by the Trump campaign for giving the same advice to delegates before the convention. Do those enjoying the clown show that is this campaign fear those with the slightest bit of political knowledge or personal principles will go Libertarian this year--or just stay home? As one Trump supporter around here told me a few days ago "What is this 'vote on principles' b@^^*#%t that everyone is talking about?"

Speaking of Libertarians, could you do me a favor and if you are ever called by a Presidential polling service, could you say that you are voting for Gary Johnson? I don't want to provide false information to pollsters--but I do want to see a Libertarian on the stage for the Presidential Debates--and that spot is decided solely on public opinion polls (and not the ones that the marketing arm of Donald Trump's campaign make up and he retweets like they are some sort of trusted source). I think it would be a real eye opener for Americans to hear that party's platform (so long as the topic of legalizing all drugs doesn't come up and send people running back to the two no-so-different this year candidates.)